ATTICA — It took Seneca East 20 tries to finally beat Colonel Crawford back in December. Now the Tigers have done it twice in a span of six weeks.
Seneca East led most of the game and gutted out a 53-44 win over the Eagles in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference boys game Friday night.
As a result, there is a three-way tie atop the league standings as the Tigers (14-4, 9-3), Eagles (14-5, 9-3) and Carey (11-6, 9-3) are all even with two league games remaining.
A quick start that saw the hosts jump out 8-0 proved to be the difference, in the mind of Seneca East head coach Anthony Langhurst.
“The start was key and obviously it helps when we knock down a couple shots early, but our big thing was trying to keep them off the boards because their big guys are athletes and try to get some easy baskets. When you get some baskets in transition that helps, but the energy was big,” he said.
Seneca East last won a league crown in 2007.
Langhurst got a big performance from senior forward Blake Foos. Foos scored 13 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and had 5 steals and was a catalyst for his team.
“You never have to tell Blake to get up. He goes 100 miles per hour all the time,” Langhurst said.
Lucas Bordner and Luke Mason added 11 points and 4 rebounds each.
“It’s a pretty special journey for this group of kids. Dave (Sheldon) was very complimentary about the team. And you can see those guys enjoy playing together and it’s not just a one-person or two-person show. Everybody steps up and makes plays, whether it’s rebounding as hard as you can or defending or handling the basketball.”
Crawford fell behind 24-19 at halftime and led only briefly in the third quarter when Connor McMichael and Payne DeGray put the Eagles ahead 25-24 with baskets and subsequent free throws.
The lead didn’t last long, as the Tigers went on a 12-2 run, with Foos netting 5 points and Luke Mason nailing a three-pointer that allowed Seneca East to enter the final quarter on top, 36-27.
Colonel Crawford head coach David Sheldon said the Tigers came out playing with a purpose.
“You look at our shooting and we go 4 of 19 from 3 and we didn’t shoot it well. Give Seneca East credit, they were playing with their backs against the wall with us up coming in and now it’s a three-way tie.
“I thought they did a great job with the 50-50 balls and with offensive rebounds. They were playing like they knew they couldn’t lose tonight, and we got that lead in the third, but we went empty possessions. Blake Foos stepped up and had a great game for them. His toughness all game long was tremendous,” Sheldon said.
DeGray led the Eagles with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 blocks.
After allowing the Tigers to build up a 15-point lead, the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to get within 48-39 with 1:02 remaining in the game. Freshman John DeGray contributed a pair of baskets to go along with Payne’s 8 points.
Seneca East made 13-of-17 free throws including 8-of-11 in the fourth quarter to close out the win.
Langhurst knew the Eagles wouldn’t go away quietly.
“We focused on at halftime and said that Colonel Crawford isn’t going to roll over and give this win to you. We knew they had a run in them, but the kids have been in enough of these tight games where they can buckle down and we have guys that step up to make big rebounds or a big shot. That happened tonight,” he said.
“The kids hopefully get a chance to enjoy it. Coaches don’t have that much time as there’s another tough challenge down the road. We’ll get back to preparing for Mohawk and we won’t overlook a tough team in Danbury. You never have a night off.”
Holding Crawford to 84 points in two games is a reflection of Seneca East’s tough defense.
“Those guys seem to enjoy it and they see the guys are buying into their roles. Guys are like what can we do that is most efficient for our team,” Langhurst said.
“You look at a guy like Aidan Hines. He doesn’t get a lot of credit for all the hard work he puts in. But he gets his hands on balls, or he’ll get a big rebound or a big box-out. But those are little things that the coaches appreciate, and those things add up for big wins like tonight.”
Hines chipped in 8 points, 4 rebounds and a blocked shot.
Even though the Eagles committed just 10 turnovers, they proved costly.
“I thought after we took that lead in the third, we just had empty possessions and we had turnovers that led to scores. You have to limit those turnovers and those live-ball turnovers that turn into scores,” Sheldon said.
The Eagles are off until next Friday when they have a rematch at Wynford.
“We’ve got to move on to game 13 in the league race. As you’ve seen all year, this is a bear of a league. When you go into the last two games and it’s a three-way tie with three losses that tells you how good this league is,” Sheldon said.
“Our guys have come back from tough losses, and they’ve been resilient. There’s no time to sit on the toughness of tonight. We’ll get back in the gym on Monday and have four days to prep for next Friday.”
Crawford won 65-63 on a Vogt buzzer beater in the first game with Wynford on Jan. 6.
“They’re another tough team in this league. You have a bad night and you’re gonna drop an L in this league,” he said.
Box score
Colonel Crawford 5 14 8 17 — 44
Seneca East 14 10 12 17 — 53
Colonel Crawford: (14-5, 9-3 N10): Shots 18-51; 3-pt. shots 4-19 (Trevor Vogt 2, Logan Goddard, Kaden Bruner); Free throws 4-9; Rebounds 21 (Payne DeGray 7); Turnovers 10. Scoring: Logan Goddard 1 0 3, Trevor Vogt 3 1 9, John DeGray 2 0 4, Conner McMichael 4 1 9, Kaden Bruner 2 0 5, Payne DeGray 6 2 14.
Seneca East (14-4, 9-3 N10): Shots 18-40; 3-pt. shots 4-14 (Luke Mason 3, Lucas Bordner); Free throws 13-17; Rebounds 28 (Blake Foos 8); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Aiden Hines 2 4 8, Luke Mason 4 0 11, Caden Fritz 1 0 2, Lucas Bordner 4 2 11, Blake Foos 5 3 13, Lucas Hicks 1 4 6, Keeno Ruffing 1 0 2.
JV: Colonel Crawford 51-25.